NEWSLETTER – January 2015

NEWS FLASH:
Please note:  There are no Amigo concerts in January 2015 !!

Dear Amigos,

All our hopes and wishes for a peaceful 2015 were unfortunately and cruelly not heeded, as far as the beginning of the new year is concerned, so lets at least do what is in our power and fill the year with as much music as possible  –  our contribution to quality of life in this world of strife.

2015 is another anniversary year, and the birthday boys are Sibelius and Nielsen. Both these northern composers were born 150 years ago, and as is tradition in the music world, anniversaries of this kind concentrate on the oeuvre of the celebrated composers, bringing  otherwise little heard work to the fore.

Consequently we start the second part of our 2014/15 concert season suitably with works by the Finnish national composer, Jean Sibelius.   And who could do it better than our “own” Juho Pohjonen !

You may remember that Juho came to us 2 years ago and brought the house down with his
mastery of the piano.  Not only tout l’Algarve scandinavienne was transfixed by his rendering of “Finlandia”, all the Amigos who were lucky to be present at these 2 evenings of sheer delight will not forget this young genius from Helsinki.  Well, here he is again with a solo recital on Tuesday, February 17th with the following works:
 
PROGRAMME 1 on February 17, 2015

Jean SIBELIUS (1865­–1957):
Ten Pieces, Op. 58 (1909)

Jean SIBELIUS (1865­–1957):
Five Esquisses, Op. 112 (1929)

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Maurice RAVEL (1875­–1937):
Menuet antique (1895)

Maurice RAVEL (1875­–1937):
Gaspard de la nuit (1908)

On Thursday, February 19th he has teamed up with the South Korean flutist, Sooyun Kim, in the following programme:

PROGRAMME 2 on February 19, 2015

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685­–1750):
Partita in a minor for solo flute, BWV 1013 (1722–23)

Franz SCHUBERT (1791–1828):
Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802 (1824)

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Gabriel FAURÉ (1845–1924):
Violin Sonata No. 2 in e minor, Op. 108 (1916–17)
(arranged for Flute by Sooyun Kim)

Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891–1953):
Flute Sonata in D major, Op. 94 (1942–43)

Please make your reservation asap.

Please always make your email reservations at: reservasconcertos@gmail.com,
And also, members, PLEASE NOTE: if you realise that you will not be able to come to a concert
for which you made reservations, do let us know, as the number of reserved seats
has a direct bearing on our catering. Thank you !

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More 2015 dates to keep:

February 17th and 19th, 2015  —–   Juho Pohjonen, piano and Sooyun Kim, flute
March 24th  and 26th , 2015   ——    Tim Hugh, cello with Alissa Firsova, piano
April 14th and 16th, 2015          —-    Paul Crossley, piano
May 12th and 14th, 2015           —–   Lucy Parham, piano and Tim McInnerny, actor
June 9th and 11th 2015             ——   Holger Groschopp, piano and Adele Bittner, cello

Sunday, June 21, 2015 Gala Dinner at Os Agostos with Ana Beatriz Ferreira, piano

Thursday, September 3, 2015 Amigo AGM at Os Agostos

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There are new Amigos to be welcomed in our midst:

Brigitte and Andre Balot have joined us recently and I look forward to greeting and introducing them soon.

For the benefit of all our new Amigos and, of course, all others too, let me give you an update on the progress of our protégée, Ana Beatriz Ferreira, who will give us a demonstration of her progress at the Gala Dinner on June 21st, 2015.

Sponsoring young Portuguese Musicians has been a very important and ongoing project for the Amigos (details on our website: http://www.amigos-de-musica.org/) and Ana Beatriz, our present sponsoree, is now well into her first post-graduate year of piano studies at the London Royal College of Music. She has benefitted from Amigos support during the past 3 years and we hope to continue this support for another year when she will graduate – this, of course, depends very much on your help and participation.

She has been making a name for herself by introducing Portuguese piano compositions
to a wider public in the UK. And she writes the following:

“….I have wonderful news for you!  The UK and international premiere of Joly Braga
Santos piano concerto in London is now confirmed.  It will happen on
April 25th, 2015 at St. James’s Piccadilly at 7:30pm
The full performance programme is:

Schubert – Impromptu No. 3 in G flat Major D.899
Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence
Joly Braga Santos – Piano Concerto op. 52

The orchestra is the Silk Road Symphony.

This is absolutely thrilling, and I hope some of the Amigos will be able to attend!  Booking details are:  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1090473

Always grateful to the Amigos,
Beatriz”

NB: Another point of interest in connection with this Piano Concerto is the fact that it was
exclusively on her own initiative that Ana Beatriz unearthed this forgotten work by the Portuguese Composer, Joly Braga Santos (1924 – 1988). It has never been performed outside Portugal, and there only once – in 1981.  It was the result of her digging in the archives of the Lisbon National Library during many holidays at home in Lisbon that she came across the score, loved it and decided to introduce it to a wider public in the UK and thus internationally.

So, one more date  – the (for Portugal) very significant 25 de Abril 2015  –  to put into your diaries; if you happen to be in London at the end of April, don’t miss this.

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Let me end on another positive note:  We are very busy putting together a lovely
roster of artists for the 2015/16 Amigo membership year and have already roped in
Piers Lane, Katya Apekisheva, Jeroen de Groot and a couple of new names which I am
anxious to introduce to you when the time comes.

Please pay attention to the fact that the January concerts were cancelled – which turns out
to be very fortuitous, as I understand evenings are at the moment characterized by extremely low temperatures in the Algarve.

From my cozy warm flat in Wimbledon,
Weekend greetings,

Helga Hampton,
President

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